Iamadam the Prohpet wrote:
Wint wrote:
I was reminiscing to my wife the other day about how we used to make popcorn on the stove, with a skillet that had a hand crank to keep the kernels turning, then we got one of those automatic popcorn poppers and that was amazing.
Wait... what?
I enjoy popping popcorn in a big pot, but I couldn't imagine popping it in a skillet.
This. Layer of oil. Layer of kernels. Lid on top of pot. Place on top of heat. As the popping starts to die down, shake to get the last kernels to fall to the bottom and pop. Never had any problems, and it always came out better than any of the jiffy pop ones, and much much better than microwave popcorn does today.
It's kinda sad that a lot of young kids today probably have no clue that you can indeed pop popcorn without a microwave and special packages that raise the cost by a factor of 10...
We had a color TV (and that was a big deal!). I remember that we also had one of those huge antennas up on the roof (cause we lived in the boonies). Massive thing with a motor on it that would allow you to change direction. We use to really **** of my dad and step mom on Saturday mornings since the thing was right on top of the master bedroom. Yes... Good times!
We never had cable growing up, but my cousins did (their dad is a technophile and also owned one of the first model Betas). I remember the thing got like 8 channels in addition to the local ones. IIRC, the early cable box had 33 channels (not sure why), and most of them weren't used for anything.
IMO, the biggest things about kids today (and this will be more true in another 5 years or so if we're talking about 18 year olds), is that they've grown up entirely in a digital world. They've never messed with analog records or tape. Every control is a button with a menu control instead of a knob. And even if there is a knob, everything is still defined in discrete values for them (think about tuning a modern radio). They've grown up with CDs and DVDs as a starting point technologically. In a short while, they'll have all grown up with home computers, cell phones, and digital music players.
Not sure if that's a good or bad thing, but that's much more relevant than the social stuff on the list. Every generation has different fads and famous people and whatnot. But in the same way that my generation grew up with TV and was changed by it, the upcoming generation will also have a very different perspective as a result of the telecommunications technology changes that have occurred. That'll be the big one I think. When we get a generation that has grown up always being able to google things on the internet...